VT200 Charging issue

[Hoopes242]

Hello, so I've seen a few topics here about the VT200 and the battery/charging issues but none that are like mine. So I put the VT200 up for about 2+ months it had about 3/4 battery life when I out it up. I got it out yesterday and thru it on the charger and left, came back later to the same exact battery lever so assumed my block or cable was bad or not plugged in right so I grabbed a bunch of them I have around the house, all high end samsung chargers that all work great and couldn't get a bolt on the battery meter. Finally I got one but it wouldn't stay. I put it on charge overnight with a bolt thru the meter. Woke up to it a little higher but still very low, my thoughts are that ether a cell was very low and the DNA wouldn't charge it, or the battery is bad now. My computer won't let me download escribe so I have to use a friend's Computer for that so I can't check cell voltage yet. Now the bolt will come up but when I hit fire it disappears when I believe is stayed before I can't remember. Any ideas would be helpful aswell as the best replacement battery with little modifications not trying to grind my entire inside case but can a little aswell as replace plug if needed.

[Scarab]

If your battery drop at too low voltage (like 2V per cell) DNA200 don't charge it in normal mode. So, you need check it in EScribe and run "USB Recovery" procedure to restore battery.

[Spector NS5 RD]

don't condemn the battery yet. wait until you're able to use your friend's comp. make sure all the individual cell and pack voltage boxes are checked off in device monitor then take a screenshot and post it here. the charging is designed to stop when you take a vape (hit the fire button) then charging ramps back up right after you let go of the fire button. 

[Hoopes242]

OK thank you, I'm going to get it on escribe Asap. I'll go to the library if I have too. How long gone does the recover process take on average?

[Hoopes242]

Actually I'm probably going to take it to work Monday and use a computer there so time won't be an issue, but I am considering a battery upgrade ifrom it's worth it cause the battery life on this mod does suck. I was able to build accordingly but having that extra battery life would be nice.

[Spector NS5 RD]

Hoopes242 said:

Actually I'm probably going to take it to work Monday and use a computer there so time won't be an issue, but I am considering a battery upgrade ifrom it's worth it cause the battery life on this mod does suck. I was able to build accordingly but having that extra battery life would be nice.

if indeed one ore more cells in your vt's lipo are out of balance from the others, you can run usb recovery. since usb recovery only runs for a very short amount of time (minutes) you might have to run it a few times to get the cell or cells to an acceptable level for the board to operate correctly.

[Hoopes242]

So I connected to escribe last night and cell 1 was at 3.79v and the others were at 4.01v and would go higher at times when charging. But cell 1 would never go higher then 3.79v. I ran USB recovery several times with no change. Well atleast I think it was running it would prompt me if I wanted to run it then tell me it has been ran a certain amount of time and when I hit ok nothing else came up so I figured it was running. I remember before I put it up that there was a small rattle in it, and I took it apart the other night and found a small square piece had broke from the board, looks like a capacitor of some sort. There are two the same size on the back of the board and 3 smaller ones on the front from what I seen from pictures on Google. But that rattle started about a month before I put it up which means it was broke off before that and worked perfectly fine. I think it just needs a new battery. I have contacted hcigar and evolv about both the battery and the broken piece.

[Hoopes242]

Here are some pics of the live view of the voltage in each cell

[Hoopes242]

That's after a full charge overnight, cell 1 will not go above 3.89v so should I replace the battery? And does anybody know of a good replacement other then the hcigar battery that's already in it? I herd hcigar came out with an updated true 1300mah battery but I can't find it. I was looking at turnigy but now sure exactly how much moding will be needed and if it's worth it. And I know thunder power will custom make batteries for you, and are located in the states out of Las Vegas but there pricy.

[Spector NS5 RD]

That square piece is called an inductor. it and other components are Responsible for helping to generate the necessary voltage to run your atty. Also it's part of the charging circuit. The board will run with only one inductor but is designed to run with both. Best to do what you are already doing, RMA the board or device.

[Hoopes242]

Yea I'm just waiting on evolv to contact me back, and I'm going to send the mod in to be serviced, and look at buying a new mod to add to the collection!!